This blog is a forum for those who claim Warwick, NY as their hometown as well as those who have had experiences there that they wish to share. It is a means for reconnecting with both place and people. It invites the sharing of stories of the distant as well as the recent past. Its stories, when possible, are in some way connected with a photograph or artifact originating from Warwick, NY.

Saturday, December 26, 2015

The Rhein Vein: The Amazing Florescing Minerals of Amity, New York

Amity is a hamlet of the Town of Warwick, New York

This
past summer [2012] I had the good fortune to meet Glenn Rhein of Amity, New
York and to hear about his amazing mineral finds, particularly crystals that fluoresce under a short wave ultraviolet light emitter, on his property a
stone's throw, excuse the pun, from where my own great grandparents, the Kiels, once
owned a dairy, long known as the Feagles Farm, and where my grandmother
and great aunts once traipsed fields that no doubt contained many samples of those same crystals some seventy to eighty years ago. "Who
knew that such treasures lay in the ground," was the response from my great aunt Louise (nee Kiel) when I shared some of the
photos I had taken of Glenn's finds.

The fluorescence of these minerals was not known to most; in fact, seeing the fluorescence requires a special short-wave ultraviolet light emitter. Fluorite, which is prevalent in this particular dig done in Amity, actually has exceptional fluorescing ability. The term "fluorescence" originates from a discovery by George Gabriel Stokes in 1852. He observed that fluorite emitted a blue glow when illuminated with visible light "beyond the violet end of the spectrum." Fluorite can fluoresce if held in sunlight then moved into the shade where noticeable color change can be seen . Fluorite emits a blue-violet color under short wave and long wave light.

Only about 15% of all minerals noticeably fluoresce. Fluorescence occurs when impurities known as activators exist. The crystalline structure of some minerals cause them to glow. Crystals temporarily absorb a small amount of light and an instant later release a small amount of it in a different wavelength. The ultraviolet light cast by short wave emitters, 100-280 nm, accentuates light released by these crystals. Novelty black lights are actually long wave emitters, 315-400 nm, and, therefore, are ineffective for revealing mineral fluorescence.

Normal light, crystals under a short wave ultraviolet light, and under long wave ultraviolet light. The short wave light reveals the brilliant colored light emitted by these crystals.

The crystals discovered by Rhein have a long history associated with Amity's
history. There were finds in the 1820s and 1830s known to Europeans. An historical marker next to the nearby Crystal Inn marks the
almost forgotten phenomena which had farmers, geologists, and fortune
hunters scurrying into the woods with picks and shovels in hopes of
hauling out giant crystals that were reputedly fetching thousands of
dollars even a 150 years ago! The fact that such a high value was placed
on some of these specimens made it necessary to keep much of the
discoveries a secret, and there really is no documentation of what all
was found and how much was carted away. Certainly, this new discovery is
evidence of the breadth of discoveries that may have proceeded it.

A specimen label for some Clintonite collected from Amity in the Town of Warwick, NY.

A sample of the many specimens collected during the 19th century from Amity, Monroe and the surrounding area for the Ecole des Mines in France.

In this May/June issue of Rocks & Minerals magazine there is a feature story on New York State crystals in the Ecole de Mines collection in France.

Less
than 30 feet from Glenn's own home there is a huge pit that I visited
with my son Gabe, who slid to the bottom and got his share of mud and
water now filling its bottom. The handful of spinels Glenn fished out of
a nearby puddle and dropped into my son's open palms paled to the importance he placed on the amount of mud he could take away from the site---a memorable day for
all of us. It looked like a meteor crater, but it was here that Glenn
extracted with a house-size back hoe on catepillar tracks what he has
called the "mother lode", a rich vein of all types of crystals, some
measuring four inches in diameter. Here and in the vicinity he has
identified 19 different types of minerals which makes this something of a
natural anomaly and a magnet for anyone who lives and breathes rocks
and minerals, like George Gordianos of the Orange County Gem and Mineral
Society, who accompanied me. Here we also saw samples of Edenite and
Warwickite, which are two crystalline minerals named after our own
neighboring Town of Warwick, where it was found, and the hamlet of
Edenville.

A pit dug by Glenn Rhein with an excavator brought many important crystal finds to light.

An example of a giant diopside crystal in situ after excavation on the Amity property.

The "Rhein vein" is actually part of a large marble
belt that runs from Franklin, New Jersey, home of the famous
"Franklinite", which we have a number of samples of on display at our
Natural History Building, on to destinations north in Canada. In fact,
if you come on over to Museum Village, there is a rather large display
of many of these crystals, albeit more modest specimens, that were
collected right in the vicinity of Glenn's recent finds by the late
amateur mineralogist and archeologist Jack Webster, who actually spurred
many on in the area, including a group of Boy Scouts from Troop 45 back
in 1976 that he wowed with some of his collection, including myself,
and spurred on to spend a whole lot of time hunched over looking for
projectile points after the desirable combination of a spring plowing
and a light rain to more easily recognize them. And Mr. Webster had a
comprehensive collection of rocks and minerals from Orange County too,
and a sampling of his collection has recently been unwrapped and been
put out on display at Museum Village.

The estimate on the age of
this crystals is somewhere in the 800 million years ago range, according
to Glenn, who has been a quick study of a collection that most
mineralogist would take a lifetime to acquire. The crystals may have
been formed when our local Mount Adam and Eve, composed of granite,
pushed through an existing marble belt forming the kind of stuff you
find in plentitude in Franklin. As Glenn went through a litany of
identifications of these samples including "Augite, Phlogopite..." and
the like, I realized all the homework I had if some of this find were to
come to be on display at Museum Village.

Phlogopite

At Glenn's home,
constructed of the hand-hewn beams from the original barn for the
property that used to sit out next to Little York Road when I was a kid,
every nook and cranny is seemingly filled with mineral treasures on
display. Here he took Gabe, George and I into the back room and brought
out the black light.

In addition to being a visual sensation of
perfect tetrahedrons and octahedrons in natural light, many of these
crystals fluoresce under a black light. There were some that glowed
shades of blue and green, but the real show stopper was the hand size
rock that lit up hot pink! There's a real wow factor with these minerals
that Museum Village would be remiss in not presenting for its school
visitors. The fact that has often been shared with me is that Orange
County is a geologists' treasure trove yet the largest collection of
rocks and minerals from this area is actually at the Ecole des Mines in
Paris, France. Recently, Glenn and his wife Karen travelled to Paris to
present some samples from their recent finds in Amity to the School of
Mines, and they have been extremely generous with donations to a number
of universities and museums across the country.

In the coming
months, the museum plans to receive some specimens from the "Rhein vein"
thanks to the generosity of Glenn and Karen, including some crystals
that fluoresce, and both Glenn and George Gordianos have discussed with
us the possibility of realizing a dark room within the Natural History
Building at the museum that will provide an unforgettable experience for
visitors of these natural wonders. We hope to have that in place by the
Spring 2012 season.

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Old Photograph

Raymond Benedict, c.1942. I found this photograph sitting on some leaves one Fall day when the neighborhood kids and I were playing around Church Street some thirty years ago [more specifically 1974/1975 when I was 11/12 years old ]. We all thought that it looked like Lee Majors from The Six Million Dollar Man. My guess is that the photo came from the old VFW which was once headquartered in the quonset roofed addition to the old Warwick Hospital building on Forrester Avenue. I remember telling Joel Benedict, who was a few years older than me in school, that I had found this photograph. This is Raymond Benedict of Bellvale, NY.

Mrs. Baum's Class (c.1955?); John Porvaznik is the kid with glasses, and my mom, Cheryl [Miller] Schmick (1944-2004) is the first girl standing in the back row on the left side. Recognize anyone else? To Mrs. Baum's left is John Baird. I have a larger version of this in digital form if anyone would like a copy just email me.

This photo and those that follow were taken in the 1930s when my great grandfather and mother, [Johann] Phillip Kiel and Katherine Schlagel Kiel owned this dairy farm located at the corner of County Rt. 1 and Horseshoe Lane in Little York, Pine Island.

Two of a number of toy lead soldiers I unearthed on one of the Raynor's old dumps on Fair Meade Farm in the early 70s while fishing trout in the nearby creek.

Fair Meade Farm, Rt.94 not visible but cuts through center of this view. The lone tree in the field is still there, c.1960.

Fair Meade Farm, before Twin State Ford ( Leo Kaytes Ford) c.1960.

Fair Meade Farm, Rt.94.The apple orchard above the Warwick Drive-In as it looked. Notice the old steel reinforced concrete posts and cable fence that ran along this stretch of Rt.94; many a car got taggled up in that until they removed it (c.1960).

Just before the bridge on Sanfordville Rd. was a farm. The barns had been re-painted and repaired after seemingly sitting unused for many years when I snapped this picture. There was a small two-story house that went with this barn. For many years, that house was occupied by Travi Jackson and his family. The house burned to the ground sometime in the 1970s (c.1987).

The old bridge on Sanfordville Rd. It was closed sometime before the 80s, but I remember the thrill of going over this bridge in a car years before (c.1987).

The railroad tracks stretching under the old bridge on Sanfordville Rd. (c.1987).

The Sanford (Lawrence) Farm, c.1940. This aerial view includes the Lehigh & Hudson railyards as well as some of the Pelton Farm. My grandfather, Paul Miller, rented this farm between c.1938-1947, so the equipment parked about the outbuildings was his. This includes the tractor which I believe to be his first.

The Creek (Black Rock Creek?) I have to admit that I don't know the name of this creek that runs down Moe Mountain on the west side of Fair Meade Farm through a culvert under Rt.94 on to what was the east side of Fair Meade Farm (Petrucci property) where it formed a pond which ran on behind the old Decker Farm (?).

The Creek ( Black Rock Creek?), c.1987. This photo was taken somewhere above Fair Meade Farm on Moe Mountain. This is the creek that seemingly runs all the way from behind the South Street Extension housing development. My friends and I fished some trout out of this creek back in the mid-1970s. I was recently informed by an old friend who grew up near the creek that all the building in the last twenty years has sucked up all the ground water leaving this creek nothing more than a trickle.

Railroad Lantern

An Adams & Westlake of Chicago, IL Railroad Signaling Lantern, Adlake Model No. 250, c.1923. There is a convex stamp on top that reads "C__R CO. of NJ. It is my belief that this was from The Central Railroad of New Jersey. This lantern for a long time sat on the hearth of the living room in the main house at Fair Meade Farm on Rt.94. I know that my great grandfather, Phillip Kiel, worked for the Lehigh & Hudson Railroad. The identification of The Central Railroad of New Jersey name on this lantern is an interesting one, for it evidences not only rail travel in the area but Warwick's connection to a vast network of railroads. The Lehigh & Hudson's Warwick train stops originated in Belvidere, NJ as many know. The L&H had many stops throughout Northern NJ, and it is not unlikely that this lantern found its way to Warwick through the common practice of borrowing and using other railroads' equipment, especially when they shared track and common destinations.

I discovered these two tintypes under the floor boards in the attic of 22 High Street in Warwick around 1973 or 1974. Mingled with these were some envelopes with postmarks from the 1890s. Unfortunately I kept the stamps but discarded the envelopes. There were also brittle copies of The Warwick Dispatch from the 1890s and a copy of The New York World with the headline "The USS Maine has been sunk in Havana harbor (1898)." The exact wording escapes me. If anyone has a clue to who these tintypes are of, please contact me.

This is a Christmas card sent from Grace [Pelton] Holbert (who I believe lived on the Pelton Farm, that is now owned by Tunis Sweetman, all of her life) to my grandparents, Paul and Emma Miller, in 1955. If this was the Pelton family's first car then is this Oakland Avenue in the background as I suspect in 1903? If so, it is likely that this was one of the first automobiles in Warwick.

One of my most treasured photographs, and one that is in very bad condition. The team of horses is presumably Paul Miller's when he rented the Lawrence (Sanford) Farm, circa 1937. The two bare-chested fellows in the photo are unknown. If anyone could verify that there was a water tower like the one on the right at the Lawrence farm at this time and why it was used please contact me. The structure might be an elevated corn crib? As of May 28, 2009, I have upon closer examination of this photo realized it was probably taken around 1942-3 instead of 1937 because a seemingly 4-5 year old Bob Miller ( Paul Miller Jr.) is standing next to the two fellows on the left. I didn't see that before because of the poor quality of the photo. My grandfather is at the reigns of the horses that are pulling a spring harrow.

Ice House and Granary

The building at the left is the former ice house at Fair Meade Farm. Notice the outlines of the doors that ran the entire length vertically of the building's front. The building at the right is the former granary. Notice how it is elevated to protect its contents from rodents. There were ingenious steddles holding the building up. These prevented rodents from running up the supporting posts and into the building where grain was housed. c.1963

This is the type of panel wagon that had doors at the back of it like those described and depicted in the following photographs and blog story. The man in the white shirt is my great grandfather Phillip Kiel, later of Little York and Warwick, working on a Coney Island, Brooklyn, ice wagon, c.1907

At the far left beyond the equipment overhang is where the original milk house was located. The cement block addition next to the truck is the newly constructed milk house, c.1950

Followers

Lydia Hasbrouck, third from left, in the toll room at the Warwick Valley Telephone Company, c. 1930s

1773 Colonial Half Penny, Unearthed on the green of the Old School Baptist Church, Warwick, NY (c.1973).

1773 Colonial Half Penny, reverse, Unearthed on the green of the Old School Baptist Church, Warwick, NY (c.1973).

Paul Miller on his Farmall H at Fair Meade Farm, c.1950

Farmall H at work on Fair Meade Farm, c.1950

Farmall H at Fair Meade Farm, 1952

Farmall Super M at Fair Meade Farm, c.1963

Paul Miller on his JD 4010 Diesel at Fair Meade Farm, c.1963

JD 3020 and Farmall C at Fair Meade Farm, c.1971

JD 4010 with bucket and five-bottom plow at Fair Meade Farm, c.1971

John Deere 4010 Diesel at Fair Meade Farm, c.1963

John Deere 4010 Diesel at Fair Meade Farm, c.1963

The following November, 2004 pictures are of the aftermath of the Webster Feed & Grain barn fire in Pine Island, NY. In addition to the tragedy of losing this landmark structure, there was a large collection of local Native American artifacts collected by Jack Webster and his late father destroyed by the fire.

Seven Rooms Cave, 1977

Seven Rooms Cave, 1977

Seven Rooms Cave, 1977

Seven Rooms Cave, 1977

Seven Rooms Cave, 1977

The Harriman, NY Mastodon

The Mastodon at Museum Village, 2004

Notice of the Finding of the Mastodon near Harriman, NY in 1952 and now housed at Museum Village in Monroe, NY